Ethio Telecom, Ethiopia state-owned mobile provider, launched its 5G network service on Monday, 9th May 2022.
The service will first be available in the capital Addis Ababa, before eventually spreading to other parts of the country. It will be available in Addis Ababa and outside the capital in the coming 12 months.
“We are pleased and honored to launch the world’s advanced fifth-generation network. We are committed to seeing a digital Ethiopia, which will uplift our people’s overall living conditions,” Frehiwot Tamiru, CEO of Ethio Telecom.
Chinese Huawei is the technical company behind this effort.
Interestingly the state owned had planned to sell off 40% of the business but rescinded the decision in March this year due to the prevailing economic environment domestically and globally.
In December 2021, the Ethiopian telecoms regulator had also suspended a tender process for a second telecommunications licence, which it said it would relaunch in the “near future”. The first licence was won by the Vodafone led consortium in 2021.
Ethio Telecom has 64 million subscribers on its network out of a total population about 110 million people
